FARLEY ON BUDGET CUTS WE ARE NOT SAIFIED
Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly, Farley Augustine, has voiced deep dissatisfaction following the national budget presentation, stating directly that island officials ‘are not satisfied with what we were allocated’. Augustine maintained that whilst relations with the central government remain respectful and productive, ‘the budgetary allocation that we have received certainly is far less than we wish we were allocated today’.
Drawing a comparison to domestic disputes, Augustine noted that ‘in a household husband and wife do sometimes have disagreements,’ explaining that this ‘does not mean an automatic divorce’. Even so, he expressed disappointment over the diminished fiscal support, remarking: ‘It’s not the worst that we have gotten in our history. But certainly after the hopeful start of last year, it feels gutted to be reduced to what we are custom getting in the previous years’.
Augustine pointed out that Tobago received just over $2.7 billion overall, with development financing suffering a notable contraction. ‘On the development side… we will receive just about $150 million in development expenditure,’ he noted, underscoring that ‘that $150 million is down from the $201 million or so received for capital development last year’. Reaffirming his position, he insisted: ‘Tobago needs to be given more on the capital development side. That doesn’t change this year’.
The Chief Secretary dismissed claims of fiscal growth, explaining that Tobago’s portion fell from 5 per cent of the total national budget last fiscal year to 4.35 per cent this fiscal year. Addressing fiscal criticisms, he stated: ‘I don’t think we are a burden on the national treasury because we are in fact citizens’. Augustine concluded that achieving equity requires structural change, affirming that ‘fair share in my mind requires ultimately two things… constitutional change… and a specific algorithm for how we are allocated financing’.
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